In Case You Missed It ...
Mar 27, 2009 9:19 am US/Central
MS Patients Find Support In Fitness Classes
KELLER (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
It's 11 a.m. on a Monday at the Keller Natatorium.
Steve drove over from North Richland Hills and Jay from comes from Lewisville, but everyone in this class has one thing in common.
They all have multiple sclerosis.
"It's been thirty years since I was diagnosed with MS. But it's been slow progressing, it affects everyone differently," one patient admits.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision.
Some like Sandy Hickey, smile and laugh as they participate in the activities – some things they'd never be able to do again once they were diagnosed.
"When we go to the wall to do our exercises, we jog in between each one. So, for the first time in years, I'm actually jogging again, so get the legs moving again? Yeah!" Hickey exclaims.
This group gathers three days a week for this aquatics class – which is completely free.
Steve Timmons arrives with his walker, looking forward to more than just the workout.
He says it only the physical activity that helps him feel better.
"It's not only physically, but emotionally," he says. "It's the comaraderie, knowing that you're not the only one out there."
Instructor Anna Holmes has taught this class for five years, and says everyone gives 100 percent. Including Judy Richards, who was diagnosed in 1992 and has had trouble with one leg dragging.
"It has not progressed from that point because I believe, of all the exercising I do," the patient attributes to her time in the pool.
The MS society sponsors these aquatics classes, as well as, several bike-a-thons, runs and walks and other fundraising events. That money generated supplements the costs of the classes and the society then offers them for free to MS patients, their families and their friends.
Other classes include Pilates, yoga, horseback therapy and even wellness physical training, Kristen Stubbs with the MS Society explained.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
RAW VIDEO: 100-Mile Police Chase
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
